From the Gardens

by Nastasia Caole

Hello everyone! I’m this summer’s Patchen Miller Intern at UVLT. What an incredible growing season! One moment you’re alongside brave volunteers in the soggy garden rows of Brookmead in the spring and the next, you’re sharing squash-scratches from macheting through the giant zucchini at Up On the Hill.

Hopefully it isn’t too soon to say that we’ve reached the other side of the heat spell with relatively few plant casualties. I am endlessly impressed with how much we accomplish at the UVLT gardens as a group. On July 31st, volunteers from Novo Nordisk weeded beds in minutes that normally would take me weeks of solo work. When you work with and learn from your community, you notice things that you may take for granted when alone. For instance, the other week at Brookmead, Anne carefully uncovered some very tenacious watermelon and cherry tomato plants that made a surprise return from last year’s crop. At Up On the Hill, Mary taught me to water plant shoots at their base so as not to burn them from water droplets on a hot day, and thanks to Laurie, I have added “Laurie-approved” to my lexicon when picking zucchini. A big thank you to all our steadfast volunteers. You have all found a special niche in the UVLT gardens and I notice a difference when you’re not there with your trademark tool or committing to your favorite tasks:

Brookmead Food Pantry Garden:

Anne Foley

Carole Bibeau

Joe Behsmann

John Farrell

Katie Rawson and Bernie duBreuil

Lisa Solbert-Sheldon

Paul and Wendy Manganiello

Richard Crowley

Up On the Hill Garden

Laurie Wilson

Mary Bourdon

 

A big thank you also to UVLT staff members Kevin Brooker and Alexander van Engelen for helping out this summer and wrestling with our watering contraption at Brookmead. Thanks Stewardship Programs Coordinator, Cassie Bernyk, for anticipating the gardens’ needs and leading us towards the end of a productive growing season! With that being said, I believe this month’s Overachiever Award goes to this mondo sunflower at Brookmead and of course the zucchini plants at Up On the Hill. Honorable mention: the creek by Brookmead that supplied the garden with water this dry summer!

The food we grow is donated to Willing Hands, the Claremont Soup Kitchen, and the Charlestown Food shelf. Willing Hands distributes food to approximately 80 social-service organizations in the Upper Valley. Last year, the Claremont Soup Kitchen served 13,781 breakfasts/lunches and provided 4,202 food boxes to families in Sullivan Country. The Charlestown Food shelf is open three days a week and welcomes anyone who needs to supplement their fresh produce needs; consistently updating their Facebook page with descriptions and pictures of donations to choose from.

So far this summer, we’ve harvested 344.8 lbs of food at Brookmead and 720.6 lbs at Up On the Hill! We still have a couple more months of growing and I’m excited to see how our potatoes, squash, and beans do. Keep up the good work everyone!